President Proposes $31 Billion in Education Aid for Families

By MARC LACEY

Published: January 21, 2000

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20—
President Clinton today proposed a $31 billion package of tax advantages and financial aid to make college more affordable for millions of families, including those earning as much as $120,000 annually.

The centerpiece of the program, which requires Congressional approval, is a tax credit of $2,800 a year that would be phased in by 2003 to ease the cost for tuition and fees for eligible families.

''When we open the doors to college, we open the doors to opportunity,'' Mr. Clinton said today at a gathering of college students in the Old Executive Office Building.

The president's education budget would also include $35 million intended to encourage college dropouts to re-enroll; $40 million to help minority students embark on five-year, dual-degree programs; $716 million for Pell grants to aid needy students and $400 million for programs to keep students from low-income families in high school.

Administration officials said the proposals would be intended for middle-class families but would also benefit families in higher income levels. Families making below $100,000 a year would receive the full benefits of the proposals, while those with incomes up to $120,000 would receive reduced benefits.

The proposals would expand, but not replace, existing education tax credits and scholarships, which Congress enacted in 1997 at Mr. Clinton's request.

The initiatives face an uncertain prospect in this election year, with Republicans in Congress hesitant to give Mr. Clinton any political advantage. A more ambitious tax cut package pushed by Senators Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, and Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine, won bipartisan support last year but eventually died.

''Some in Congress, I note, are saying that because this is an election year we really shouldn't try to do anything for the American people,'' Mr. Clinton said. ''Nothing, not a national election or a Washington snowstorm, should get in the way of making a college education more affordable for all Americans.''

Mr. Clinton's announcement, like the health care measures he proposed on Wednesday, are part of a seasonal ritual in which the president tries to build interest in his State of the Union address, scheduled for next Thursday.

Not all the details are announced early. Asked how the education proposals would be paid for, Joe Lockhart, a White House spokesman, told reporters to wait until next month, when the administration's spending priorities for the 2001 fiscal year are unveiled.

At the president's side today were Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is seeking a Senate seat in New York, and Mr. Schumer, who had advocated making college tuition tax deductible in his victorious campaign over Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato in 1998.

Mr. Clinton said the two had twisted his arm to include the education proposals in his 2001 budget.

Introducing the president was Nina McLaughlin, a freshman at Trinity College in Washington, who said her family would significantly benefit from the proposals. Ms. McLaughlin has two younger brothers nearing college age. Her father is working overtime to pay for expenses, while her mother holds two jobs.

Reminiscing about his own college days, Mr. Clinton said: ''I had the help of scholarships, loans and jobs. If I hadn't had that help, there's no way in the world I'd be standing here today.''